1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to seatbelt systems for restraining and protecting an occupant of a vehicle in an emergency situation of the vehicle such as a collision, and more particularly, a seatbelt system capable of automatically fastening a restraining webbing to the occupant after the occupant is seated.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Since the seatbelt system protects occupants of the vehicle by restraining them with a webbing during vehicular emergencies, the occupants in the vehicles do not collide with dangerous objects such as a steering wheel and their safety is insured. However, for reasons such as the difficulty of fastening the restraining webbing, the percentage of occupants wearing such webbings is very low.
For this reason, seatbelt systems which automatically fasten the restraining webbing to the occupant after he has seated himself have been proposed. These seatbelt systems have a guide rail provided in or on the car body and the webbing is caused to approach or move away from the seated occupant to permit automatic fastening or unfastening of the webbing by means of a slider to which the end of the webbing is attached and which is caused to move along the guide rail.
In this type of the seatbelt system as described above, when the occupant enters or leaves the vehicle, it is necessary that the slider is quickly and smoothly moved along the guide rail, and further, that the slider and guide rail have strengths sufficient for reliably restraining and protecting the occupant in an emergency situation of the vehicle. Furthermore, it is desirable that the slider and guide rail are rendered as compact as possible in volume, and further, have forms of not protruding into the compartment of the vehicle, because both the slider and guide rail are provided within the compartment of the vehicle.